Jay Przekurat enters the final Elite Series events of the season with a three-point lead in the Angler of the Year standings.
August 04, 2025
B.A.S.S. Communications MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — Summer is in full swing in southern Michigan, which means the smallmouth are starting to feed up just in time for the 2025 Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair according to Michigan native Aaron Jagdfeld.
“It would surprise me if someone put together a total somewhere in the high 90s and close to the 100-pound mark.”
Tournament days are scheduled for Aug. 7-10 with tournament headquarters located at Brandenburg Park in New Baltimore, Mich. The 101-boat field will launch at 7 a.m. ET each day and return for weigh-in beginning at 3 p.m. The field will be cut to the Top 50 anglers after the Day 2 weigh-in, and the Top 10 anglers after the third competition day will compete on Championship Sunday.
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The winner earns the $100,000 first-place prize and a coveted blue trophy.
This will be the fourth full-field Elite Series tournament at Lake St. Clair since 2017. The average winning weight of the other three was 88-13.
An angler favorite, Lake St. Clair is one of the best smallmouth fisheries in the country and has been a recurring destination for the Bassmaster Tournament Trails. Last year, the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN was held on St. Clair in July, and Elite Series pro and current Angler of the Year points leader Jay Przekurat won with 75-05 across three days, edging Jagdfeld by 3 1/2 pounds.
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Jagdfeld has fished several tournaments on St. Clair this July, including wins at the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier presented by Lowrance that launched out of Monroe, Mich., and a BFL that launched out of the Detroit River.
In his last couple of weeks fishing there, the 24-year-old has seen more and more smallmouth move into their summer patterns. In a lake void of structure, smallmouth in St. Clair tend to roam and hang around areas with hard sand and vegetation. Perch grass and cabbage are the predominant offshore grasses in the lake, and smallmouth will use both depending on the area of the lake.
Anchor Bay will be one of the most popular areas on the lake, as it was during the 2024 Bassmaster Open and an Elite Series event held here in 2023. Mitchell’s Bay sets up similarly to Anchor, and the smallies living in those two zones will likely be set up in 8 to 12 feet of water.
“Those fish get a lot of pressure. So it will be interesting to see how the guys adjust to that,” Jagdfeld said. “I can see half of the field ending up there, but if it is going to get won in there, it will be someone who is able to get away from other boats and adjust day by day.”
While plenty of healthy limits will be caught out of the Anchor Bay area, Jagdfeld believes someone who can unlock the bite in the deeper waters of the main lake could have the upper hand. Those bass tend to group up in 17 to 19 feet of water, and perch are the key forage.
“I think Canada will be a big player,” the Adrian College grad said. “Joey (Cifuentes) was the only one to figure it out and get away from anyone (during the 2023 Elite event), and if someone can do that this time, that is a ticket to winning this tournament.”
Due to higher water levels, the Detroit and St. Clair rivers have not made a meaningful impact in Bassmaster tournaments the last several years. That could change this go-round, though, Jagdfeld said, as the river levels are back to normal and even dropping.
“It seems like the fish are rejuvenated there,” Jagdfeld said. “They are setting up on new areas and current breaks this year. The rivers have been fishing really well, and I can see those playing as well.”
Parts of Lake Erie and Lake Huron will also be in play this week, but Jagdfeld does not see those lakes producing any better than St. Clair.
“If you go to Erie and Huron, it is going to be more traditional smallmouth fishing with boulders and rocks,” he explained. “There are guys that prefer to do that, but it would be a long shot for one of them to play, especially since Erie has been fishing tough.”
A drop shot and a jighead minnow setup will be the primary presentations in this tournament, but Jagdfeld said he could see a Neko rig, mini jig, tube and a jerkbait coming into play as well.
After seven events, Przekurat leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 599 points followed by Canadian pro and 2024 Angler of the Year Chris Johnston in second with 596 points. Illinois pro Trey McKinney is third with 586 points, South Carolina’s Patrick Walters is fourth with 554 points and Indiana’s Bill Lowen is fifth with 548 points. Japan’s Kyoya Fujita, Alabama’s Will Davis Jr., Japan’s Taku Ito, North Carolina’s Shane LeHew and Georgia’s Paul Marks round out the Top 10.
Marks leads the Dakota Lithium Bassmster Rookie of the Year race with 515 points, while Alabama’s Tucker Smith sits in second with 452 points, and Minnesota’s Easton Fothergill is third with 436 points.
